The National Sports Meet is a Chinese version of the World Games, featuring mainly non-Olympic events as opposed to the quadrennial National Games.

But China won't quit organizing all these events. What they need to do is to adjust.

"The organizers won't back down on their commitments. A successful Beijing Olympics has proven China's ability to host large-scale sport events," said Liu Liji, whose mentor is International Olympic Committee member He Zhenliang who helped Beijing win the 2008 Olympic bid.

"Under such circumstances, the organizers should stick to their budgets and do not rush into decisions," Liu said.

Wei Jizhong, president of the International Volleyball Federation, agreed.

"Chinese organizers are capable of hosting high-quality sports events," he said. "But they should be economical."

Despite the highs and lows of world economy, the Chinese market remains an attraction.

The preparations for sports events are still on track as the Asian Games organizers already signed 13 partners including South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung while the National Games nabbed seven partners, according to Guangming Daily.

Last month, China announced a 4 trillion yuan (about 584 million U.S. dollars) economic stimulus package designed to boost domestic demand and maintain fast and steady growth amid the crisis.

Experts said that China's sport industry also needs stimulation propelled by internal demands.

"We should not ignore the fact that Chinese are willing to pay for sports, either it be facilities or sportswear. At present, there is a huge market in fitness training and sport organization," said Liu Qingzao.

A 2007 Survey of "Sport for All" in China, released by China's State General Administration of Sport, said a little more than 28 percent of over 1.3 billion Chinese have physical exercises at least three times a week, with a minimum duration of 30 minutes while 340 million people at least exercised once.

It also showed that more than 70 percent of people spent money on sport and the average spending was 593 yuan (about 86.6 U.S. dollars).

"The Sport for All Program is vital in cranking up domestic demand in the sport industry," said Liu Liji.

Xiao Tian, vice director of the State General Administration of Sport, saw a silver lining of the economic crisis.

"The Olympics raised people's awareness of participating in sports and brought up an opportunity for China's sport industry," said Xiao. "The industry should seize on the chance to develop when China is expanding internal demands. To some extent, the economic crisis may turn into a good thing for the industry."

(Xinhua News Agency December 24, 2008)